


The Legacy of Team 7

by 5SecsLeft



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric, Gen, Haruno Sakura is So Done, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28774719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5SecsLeft/pseuds/5SecsLeft
Summary: “Well, you’ve given me two potential power-houses and one, unfortunately, average student. There’s the traumatized broody genius, the overeager underperforming brat, and the slightly above average girl who will probably excel at medical ninjutsu.” Kakashi glanced over at the Hokage out of the corner of his eye. “Are you trying to recreate my team?”
Comments: 8
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone, as he often did. Most often he would discuss his day and missions with his late teammate, Uchiha Obito. Occasionally he would address his Sensei, Namikaze Minato, or other teammate, Nohara Rin. Today though, he was addressing all three of them, and complaining about how ridiculous the Hokage was being.

Just that morning, he had received a notice that the most recent batch of academy students had just completed their graduation exams, and that in one week’s time they would be assigned to Jōnin instructors. If he was interested in becoming a Jōnin instructor for the following graduating class, then he was to fill out the accompanying paperwork and submit it to the Academy so he could be vetted and assigned a team that would fit his skill set. Additionally it went on to list the names of the Jōnin instructors selected for this set of graduates, a list that had his name on it. Again. Despite him never having filled out the requisite paperwork. 

He thought about what his team would say about this. Rin would gently encourage him like she usually did, Minato-sensei would smile and tell him he would do a great job, and Obito would laugh and ridicule him for being assigned a team of genin.   
_"You're a Jōnin instructor now Bakashi? Oh man, are you going to teach those kids all the bad habits you picked up over the years like being late or reading porn in public? That'll be hilarious!!!"_

He smiled ruefully at the idea of his former team's reactions. Oh well, he would just fail this team of talentless genin, just like he did the last six times. 

As he began discussing the specifics of his most recent mission, the covert assassination of a minor Lord who had taken to hiring Missing-Nin to harass the Fire Daimyo's tax collectors, he sensed a presence approaching him. Even to his sharp senses he could not determine who it was, just that they were very strong, and trying very hard not to be noticed.

He subtly tensed and raised a hand to move his headband should it come to a fight. An opponent capable of sneaking this far into Konoha without alerting anyone else would surely be trouble.

"Ah, damn. I had hoped that you wouldn't have spotted me so soon," the familiar, gravily tones of the Sandaime Hokage froze him in place.

"Hokage-sama, what can I do for you?" Kakashi replied as he turned and swiftly bowed before the village leader. "Also, ah, why were you sneaking up on me?"

"Hmph. I wanted to see how your skills were holding up. Though I had hoped I could get closer without being detected, it is a little worrisome that I was able to get this close to you. You are supposed to be one of my elite Kakashi, and I approach you from upwind, so why did it take you so long to detect me?"

To that, Kakashi had no verbal reply. He instead narrowed his one visible eye at the Hokage, who chuckled in response. 

“Yes, I am saying you’re slipping,” the kind, wizened face smiled. “While I am glad you left ANBU before horrific injury or death struck you, you have let your skills lapse since then. It’s one of the reasons I keep trying to force a team onto you.”

Kakashi pursed his lips beneath his mask and turned his head away from the Hokage. The man was right, he hadn’t been keeping his skills as sharp without the ever present threat of death and worse that ANBU promised should he be anything but perfect. “Forgive me Hokage-sama, I will redouble my training regiment as soon as I fail this latest batch of genin you’ve convinced the academy to give me.”

A bellowing laugh answered him. “Oh, good one Kakashi, but I don’t think you’ll be so quick to fail this team once you see who’s on it. Here,” the Hokage held out a scroll, “I knew you wouldn’t go pick up your student dossier, so I brought it to you.” 

Sighing deeply, Kakashi turned back to his commanding officer and held his hand out for the scroll. As the Hokage placed it into his hand, he felt a burning rush through his palm where the old man’s fingers had grazed it. A quick glance at the Hokage’s eyes quieted any reaction he might have had. Instead of the happy, relaxed atmosphere that had built up in their conversation, now there was the intimidating presence of a man known as the ‘God of Shinobi’ who had led their village through two wars.

The Hokage nodded at Kakashi’s hand and subtly showed his own palm. With a miniscule push of chakra an intricate web of seal marks lit up in a dizzying pattern. “Something Jiraya finally deciphered from Kushina’s notes. In this variation it will last for half an hour so long as the person who set it still has chakra.”

Kakashi eye widened at the casual mention of Kushina, but he nodded and opened the scroll he was given. It was filled with nonsense, obviously nothing more than a prop, but did provide a barrier to any prying eyes so he could examine his hand. His own palm had begun to glow when the Hokage’s had. Pushing his own chakra did not cause the seal to react further. He rolled his one visible eye and sighed as he pretended to read through the scroll. “Fascinating, what is its purpose,” he asked quietly.

“To obfuscate most aspects of a conversation. As long as we do not change our body language and facial expressions too severely, outside observers, such as my ANBU guard, will be unable to tell what we are currently discussing and will instead think we are continuing our previous line of conversation.”

Kakashi looked up from the scroll with a bored expression and nodded his understanding. “This is quite ingenious. I’m amazed Jiraya was able to decipher Kushina-nee’s notes, knowing how cautious she was with her research, much less something of this caliber.”

“Oh yes, there’s several interesting things he’s been finding out, but I did not come to you to discuss advances in sealing techniques.” The Hokage shook his head and let a smile grace his face.

"I have reason to suspect that some of my shinobi are not as loyal to me as they seem."

It took all of Kakashi's self control not to straighten his back at that. Instead he stayed in his relaxed position and lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head. "Sir? What do you mean?"

"I mean I have proof that despite my insistence, my dear old friend Danzo has kept recruiting into ROOT and that he has begun placing members in the ANBU core. Additionally we have at least one unknown shinobi of chunin skill or greater who is acting on behalf of a known hostile agent who wants to kill me."

"Ah." Kakashi pulsed Chakra to his Sharingan in preparation for unveiling it. The Hokage must have felt the brief flare because he smiled kindly and raised his hand to still any more action. 

A gentle shake of his head and he nodded back to the scroll, gesturing as if in relation to some element within. "Calm down Kakashi, I am fine now, but that may change in the future. Jiraiya's spy network has evidence to suggest that Orochimaru is active again and that he has plans to attack the village within a year. That's one of the reasons I've assigned you as a Jōnin instructor again."

"How is assigning me a team of genin going to help against someone like Orochimaru?"

"Well, Jiraiya's spy's say that Orochimaru is after a Sharingan. There are only three possible sources of a Sharingan now. You are too high profile of a target. Uchiha Itachi is too dangerous for Orochimaru to target, and though his younger brother Sasuke does not yet have an awakened Sharing an he will likely develop one as all of his immediate family members did. Furthermore, with the last loyal Sharingan wielder training him, he will likely develop it sooner rather than later.” The Hokage tapped the scroll with a finger and a small spark of chakra caused the contents of the scroll to shuffle themselves in coherent sentences. 

“Interesting, another gift from Jiraya?” He asked as he read over the names and histories of the three genin who would be his team. 

Haruno Sakura was a promising kunoichi who had excellent chakra control, had gotten perfect scores on all her written exams, and had done slightly above average in terms of her physical scores. With proper training she could make an excellent genjutsu or medical ninjutsu specialist. 

Uchiha Sasuke was obviously going to be assigned to him, as the Hokage had pointed out he was the only loyal shinobi with a sharingan to train him. The boy had above average chakra control, scored second only to the Sakura in the written exams, his final grade being a 97 compared to her perfect 100, and had gotten top marks in all of his physical exams. He would likely excel in any field he chose to specialize in. 

The most surprising member on his squad was his sensei’s son, Uzumaki Naruto. He had absolutely abysmal scores and had passed due to a field promotion, which was unheard of in students outside of wartime. That was surprising enough, but being told he was going to train the boy he had been forbidden from interacting with for the past twelve years was a bit of a shock to him.

“Indeed. It’s even reusable, though it always scrambles to the same nonsense.” Kakashi gave an interested ‘hum’ in confirmation as he kept reading. “So tell me what you think of the new Team 7.”

“Well, you’ve given me two potential power-houses and one, unfortunately, average student. There’s the traumatized broody genius, the overeager underperforming brat, and the slightly above average girl who will probably excel at medical ninjutsu.” Kakashi glanced over at the Gokage out of the corner of his eye. “Are you trying to recreate my team?”

A small chuckle left the Hokage’s lips. “You’re closer than you think actually.” He fully turned to Kakashi and gave him a warm smile. “I suppose it’s time I’ve told you of the true nature of Team 7, and why we so rarely use that number when assigning Genin teams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, yeah, I've been working on this for a bit and felt like putting it out there. Basically the Hokage knows more about whats going on in his village than he did in canon, and he decides to do something about it in the form of getting Kakashi to actually do something useful.
> 
> Tags will update as it goes on.


	2. Chapter 2

_A small chuckle left the Hokage’s lips. “You’re closer than you think actually.” He fully turned to Kakashi and gave him a warm smile. “I suppose it’s time I’ve told you of the true nature of Team 7, and why we so rarely use that number when assigning Genin teams.”_

“Walk with me Kakashi.” The Hokage turned away from the Memorial stone and began walking towards the Hokage Monument. “Normally academy instructors decide on team composition in order to have a team that will work well together and then assign them an appropriate Jounin volunteer in order to grow the student’s skills as well as the Jounin’s skills,” the older man filled his pipe and lit it with a subtle flare of chakra. A puff of smoke left his lips after a long drag. “Team 7 on the other hand is always hand picked by the Hokage, and the Jounin instructor of Team 7 is always the most promising alumnus of the previous Team 7. It's been this way since Senju Hashirama determined that his younger brother would be the personal instructor for myself and my squadmates.” 

Kakashi blinked in surprise. He had noticed that every Team 7 had been instructed by a previous member, but had assumed it was a simple quirk that someone had started and no one wanted to end. For each member of Team 7 to be chosen by the Hokage seemed like a waste of resources as the Hokage would have to inspect every single graduating class and identify promising individuals. Unless of course there was a deeper meaning to everything. “Hokage-sama, what do you mean by ‘most promising’ alumnus?”

“It should be obvious Kakashi. The Hokage choses the Jounin from the previous Team 7 who he believes to be the most likely to succeed him. It’s not official or anything, but the instructor for Team 7 is always treated as an ‘intended’ successor so to speak.” 

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair as he sighed heavily. “So, Team 7 is essentially a shortlist of people who the Hokage has hand picked as potential successors, and I’m your current chosen successor.”

“That about sums it up yes,” the older man gave a small chuckle. “Though I will say, in the entire history of the village, you hold a unique honor, you are officially the weakest ever instructor of Team 7!”

Kakashi imagined his team reacting to that news. He saw Minato-sensei grimacing and reluctantly agreeing, Rin trying to cheer him up and convince him that he could still be a great teacher, and Obito howling with laughter at the revelation that the great genius Hatake Kakashi was considered the ‘weakest’ in something. “If I’m the weakest chosen instructor of Team 7, does that mean I’m also the weakest Hokage candidate?” A smile and nod were his answer. “I don’t suppose I can just… opt out of being an instructor and your successor can I?”

“Well, you can decide not to be an instructor, but!” The Hokage held up a finger to silence Kakashi as he was to answer, “You will instead be publicly announced as my successor and begin intense daily training in order to take over the title from me by the end of the year.”

“So I either become an instructor and babysit genin, or I get thrown to the council as a sacrifice,” the silver haired shinobi deadpanned.

“Essentially yes. So, let's talk about your team and why I chose them, hm?”

Kakashi groaned loudly and turned his full attention back to the scroll. “Naruto and Sasuke are obvious, but Sakura makes no sense to me. What’s so special about her?”

“Good question, simply put she has perfect chakra control.”

“Many students have good chakra control, especially those with Shinobi parents. Says here both her parents are reservists?”

“No Kakashi, she does not have ‘good’ chakra control. She has ‘perfect’ chakra control. The only other people to ever go through the academy and get the same scores she did were Tsunade and Uchiha Itachi. No one else has ever accomplished such a task. Though both you and Minato were incredibly close, you ultimately perfected your control after graduating. It's likely she doesn’t even realize how good her control is.”

“Hm, okay, that does sound promising, but her parents could have been training her ahead of the class. Not that unusual for parents to pass down some techniques.”

“That is true, however neither of her parents wanted her to be a shinobi and in fact went out of their way to discourage her from becoming one. Neither has given her additional instruction and in fact her mother has subtly encouraged an unhealthy diet in the hopes that young Sakura would fail the physical exams. Not only did this not work, but the girl has inadvertently been using a very basic method of Tsunade’s strengthening techniques to instinctively make up for her physical limitations compared to her classmates. She would obviously be an excellent genjutsu user or medic-nin with her control, but she also has a promising career as a taijutsu specialist if that is the road she decides upon. With proper instruction I believe she can surpass Tsunade.”

Kakashi was silent for a long moment after that, already thinking about different techniques he could pass on to her. He himself specialized in Ninjutsu, but he did manage to steal a few genjutsu over the years and being Gai’s rival meant he had superb taijutsu as well. “Alright, so Sakura is the second coming of Tsunade without getting any outside help and Sasuke was obviously going to be my student, whether in a team or as an apprentice. You’ve already mentioned the Sharingan, but I also worked with several Uchiha before the massacre and I can further instruct him in his clan’s martial arts style. Naruto is sensei’s son and I would love the chance to work with him and help him as his father helped me, but... should he even have passed?” Kakshi looked the Hokage in the eye. “His scores are so low I would have thought he’d be kicked out of the academy long before they got this point and what kind of ‘field promotion’ did he get?”

“Naruto’s scores are a symptom of a deeper problem. Were he not our Jinchuuriki he would have been expelled from the academy and forced into a civilian role, regardless of his chakra capacity. Umino Iruka gave him a field promotion, which I seconded, after Naruto took down the traitor Mizuki who revealed his nature as the Kyuubi’s host. I’ve been working with Iruka privately to determine what exactly has been happening in the academy. We have determined that several instructors in the academy were sabotaging not only Naruto but several other students. Orphans, children of immigrants, and some promising civilian born individuals were neglected in favor of clan born children. Many of those children were expelled due to low grades. Some of the most promising of those disappeared or died not long after their expulsion. I believe Danzo took those children, not unlike Orochimaru did years ago.” Sarutobi looked away from Kakashi and stared up at the faces on the Hokage monument. He was silent a long moment before turning to the silver haired Jounin. 

“I chose you Kakashi, not just because of the history of Team 7, but of what Minato saw in you. He once told me that you would become a shinobi of legend. I always knew you would be great, a genius like you comes along once in a generation, if that, but a legend? I still don’t know if you can reach that pinnacle, but I choose to believe in Minato, and he chose to believe in you, so I too will believe in you. For we are shinobi of Konohagakure and that is the Will of Fire.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi sat in the breakroom of ANBU headquarters. Technically, he was no longer allowed there as he was no longer an active member of the special forces, but no one questioned the former operative. He had his face buried in what appeared to be his normal orange book, but was actually an instruction manual for first time Academy teachers. He swapped the covers when he borrowed it from the public library. He didn’t need to have the book in front of him, he had used his Sharingan to memorize the contents, but he kept it up for appearances as he let his mind wander. He had all but been ordered to pass a team, one which would doubtlessly have many issues working together. Additionally, all three of his future students were lacking in several essential skills, the lack of which would only further compound their inability to work together. 

Oh, he also had no idea how to teach or interact with children of their age. The last time he seriously interacted with an individual close to their age had been when Uchiha Itachi was added to Team Ro under his command, and prior to that had been when he had saved Tenzo from serving under Danzo in Root. Considering all that happened with Itachi, he decided to seek out Tenzo in order to get his opinion on the situation. 

So, he sat and waited. Tenzo was due back any day now from a long-term reconnaissance mission to The Land of Earth, and after he would be on a minimum 2-week leave as all Shinobi who spent more than a week undercover in enemy territory were mandated to. Knowing that Tenzo would actually follow the mandatory leave orders, he had decided to borrow him to help him prepare for his Genin team.

Three days after the Sandaime Hokage had cornered him at the memorial stone he was still sitting in the ANBU breakroom. He was no longer reading the academy teacher’s instruction manual, but was instead reading a more advanced teaching guide written by the Sandaime himself. It was the second book in a series of five about the Sandaime’s experiences with teaching the legendary Sannin. Admittedly it was quite interesting, he hadn’t known that Jiraiya initially didn’t like fuinjutsu because it was a lot of boring repetitive practice in order to get the proper calligraphy skills. However once the young man had discovered the adaptability of the sealing arts and how few people specialized in it, he realized it would be an invaluable boon to his teammates. 

He wondered if Naruto would have the same knack for fuinjutsu that his parents had. He had once discussed the differences between Uzumaki style sealing and more traditional sealing with Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee. Minato-sensei had adapted quite well to Uzumaki sealing, but he was still specialized in the more traditional arts, whereas Kushina had mastered both but much preferred the Uzumaki style because “its not boring as hell”. He himself only managed the basics of Uzumaki sealing from a notebook that Minato and Kushina had gifted him with when he first joined ANBU. It contained notes that the both of them had thought would be useful for someone who wanted to progress from the basics and start creating their own seals, something he did not do well with. He was more than adept in reproducing already existing seals and combining basic functions, but he was unable to transcend to the “master” level of the sealing arts, which required creating a unique seal and applying it in a combat scenario.

As Kakashi sat there thinking about how his future students would progress, he barely noticed that Tenzo had finally made his way to the ANBU breakroom. The younger man had apparently finished his debrief to the ANBU Commander and was set to begin his two week leave, if the go pack over his shoulder was anything to go by. Most ANBU kept a pack in their locker at headquarters, since usually they used a 3 days on, 2 days off schedule.   
“Yo!” The silver haired Jounin called out as he snapped his book shut and stood up. He fell into step beside the brown haired ANBU agent.

“Senpai,” the Mokuton user nodded in greeting. “How have you been?”

“Maa, the Hokage decided to give me another Genin team this year.” As he spoke, Kakashi subtly signed to Tenzo using a code system that was unique to Team Ro, ‘follow, secret, urgent’. It was made of a series of subtle body movements that combined together were able to get across simple meanings. It was not as robust as the full sign language that all ANBU were trained in, but it was intended for use in situations where they could not be sure of the loyalty of those around them.

“Oh? And have you decided how you’re going to fail them yet?” The brown haired man picked up on the use of the old code system, and responded with the coded sign for ‘confirmed’.

Kakashi sighed deeply, and let some tension slip from his shoulders. He knew he could count on Tenzo. “Hm, not quite yet, though I have considered dumping them in the river. You’ve just got back from a long mission right, do you have any plans for your leave?” 

“I have a special order in at the bookshop about the architectural revolution from the Land of Tea, but I’m unsure if it’s arrived yet. Besides that I want to finally catch up on some sleep.”

Clapping his hands together and giving an exaggerated eye smile, he picked up his pace out of the ANBU headquarters. “Perfect, listen, we’ll pick up some dinner, and then you can come help me plot how to get rid of the little devils at my place. I have to test them on Monday, that gives us four days to come up with an ingenious method that will surely result in me never being assigned a Genin team again!”

* * *

The two chatted and made small talk about inconsequential things as they picked up a to-go order from a hibachi restaurant run by the Akimichi clan. Once they had their food, they settled into a comfortable silence as they walked to Kakashi’s apartment. On the way there Kakashi opened up his book and began giggling, while Tenzo sighed dramatically. To anyone observing them, it would have been only two old friends catching up after a long time apart. 

Once inside Kakashi’s apartment, the silver haired Jounin activated the privacy seals as he always did. Many Jounin and some Chunin also had privacy seals, so the usage of them was not out of the ordinary. However the seals in Kakashi’s apartment had been designed by the Yondaime Hokage, and though they looked like standard privacy seals, they had the additional benefit of notifying you if someone had been within their boundary and how many people were currently within their protected zone. With the use of the seals Kakashi knew that he and Tenzo were completely alone and would not be disturbed or overheard.

“Alright, we’re secure here, ask away.” Kakashi began setting the table for two and unpacking their dinner.

“What's going on that you were staking out ANBU headquarters for three days and are now using the old Team Ro code?”

“Well, I didn’t lie when I said the Hokage assigned me another team of Genin. This time though, I’ve been assigned as the instructor for Team 7, which will consist of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. He also let me know that Team 7 and it’s instructor are apparently all future candidates for Hokage, Danzo is still actively recruiting into ROOT, and there is an enemy spy deeply embedded within our ranks. Furthermore evidence suggests that Orochimaru and potentially others will attempt to assassinate the Sandaime.” 

Hearing Danzo’s name in addition to the rest of the information that Kakashi had just dumped on him caused Tenzo to straighten his back and grimace. “Ah, I see. That is quite a lot. Who else knows and what’s being done?”

“Jiraiya-sama, Sandaime-sama, and the two of us. The Hokage is working on it, presumably with others. For now though I’m to focus on the Genin. I was basically ordered to pass them, but I’m still going to give them the bell test. I’m going to look for essentially any reason to pass them, but if they’re completely hopeless then I’ll still fail them, I’m not going to lead some kids to slaughter. If I fail them though, I’m going to get fast-tracked as the next Hokage. I brought you in on this because I trust you completely, and I was hoping you could help me train since my skills have been slipping since I left ANBU. Here you are,” Kakashi placed Tenzo’s portion in front of him along with a cup of tea. 

“Ah, thank you,” Tenzo took a sip of his tea. “Well, I’ll certainly help you train Senpai, its the very least I could do. Do you know what you’re going to focus on with the kids? The Uchiha boy seems obvious,” he gestured at Kakashi’s covered eye as the two of them dug into their dinner “But what about the other two?”

“Well, the girl, Sakura, has perfect test scores and phenomenal chakra control according to her records, but she’s desperately lacking in physical abilities. Naruto only passed due to a field promotion and technically doesn’t have the score necessary to graduate from the academy. His taijutsu tests are good though, but his chakra control and general education will need to be completely retaught. Sasuke is a model student all around, great scores in both mental and physical skills, as well as above average chakra control. However he’s obsessed with his brother and his psych eval suggests he’s a flight risk. If some sufficiently powerful foreign actor comes along there's a good chance he’ll defect in the promise of more power.”

“Hm, well, you are an incredibly powerful Shinobi, so you should be able to keep Sasuke invested in the village until he develops bonds with his teammates. You’ll just need to get the other two closer to his level so he can see the benefits in having teammates.” Tenzo shrugged. “A bit time consuming, but not necessarily complicated, especially not to a genius like yourself.”

“Maa, it’s that genius bit that’s giving me a problem,” Kakashi sighed heavily. “I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on for teaching, but most of it doesn’t make sense to me. For example, teaching the leaf exercise, you collect chakra on your forehead and use it to hold a leaf there. Its simple and I was able to do it on my first try, but when the teaching manual said to break down how your chakra feels and what you do in order to move your chakra in that way, I couldn’t put words to it. It’s like I learned how to run before I could walk and now I’ll have to teach someone how to crawl.”

“Oh, hm, that does sound irritating. It took me a few tries to get the leaf exercise when I was first learning it, but once I figured out to make it feel like there’s something itchy on my forehead and I’m trying to scratch it from the inside it worked.” The brown haired man shrugged. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out Senpai.”

“What about memorizing boring facts?” 

“Well, depending on the fact I might make a song about it, or learn a more interesting fact that goes along with it.”

“And general survival skills?”

“Camping in a controlled but still dangerous environment, isn’t that what most Chunin use the Forest of Death for?”

“Huh.” Kakashi finished his meal and began tidying his kitchen. ”Hey, out of curiosity, how much leave do you have saved up?”

“Hm, probably four of five months if I used it all together, why do you ask Senpai?”

“Oh, no reason.”


End file.
